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The Westerlands (Terra Solis)

Hey all,

As I said in my previous (and first) topic I was planning a new project. This topic will be a exploration of my workprogress and decisions that i make. This topic will be about map making but also on story and lore. I hope you guys and gals will enjoy the road I'll travel!

This setting is based on the same concept of my previous map: Its a continent in a world that is made by a rp-group. This continent may be mine, but will be influenced by a bigger story, other factions, adventurers and so on. I am, however, its main architect.

The Westerlands
The history starts with the sundering of a huge continent, splitting it into five smaller continents. Most of the survivors rebuild their cultures on what's left.
The Westerlands will be heavily based on Europe during 1450-1500. There is a central church with lots of power over kings and nobles, an Inquisition that enforces a ban on magic (though some mages can work for the church under strict regulation). The church is pretty racist, banning most non-humans from their lands or just downright hunting them down and kill them, blaming them for most 'sins', plagues, etc.
Humans still have non-human relations though, and alot of non-human culture is inbedded in human society. Noble houses talk in elven (much like french in our world), dwarven cannons and warfare are popular among the human kingdoms,...
Human nations are mostly kingdoms or free-cities, with noble houses ruling over them. All these nations are located on the East of the continent. The lands in the West are mostly unexplored and inhabited by tribes of different races.

Thats the lore for now. Here are some "sketches" and wips.

This is the first Westerlands map I made. I was going for a graphical, clean style, (but changed my mind later on)... I totally changed my mind after I saw SchwarzKreuz' Arden and Ramah's maps though.

What the Westerlands needed was size and dept. I expanded the map by a great deal and started redesigning a lot of the continent, adding more lands to the West, ready to be explored by the players. The names on the sketch need to be changed though. Elven lands will have a French ring to it, Dwarven lands will be more German and human lands will sound Dutch or English. (ps, those are not rivers)

This is a big project and I'll be working on this for a long time. I think the next thing I'll post is a to do list. I'll keep you guys posted and i hope you'll enjoy my creative journey through my own, unexplored continent.

I really dig the black and white sketch you have. Very much looking forward to the development of this map. And keep the history coming. As a fellow rpg-er, i am always interested in details about the worlds we see.

Hey folks,
Here's a new update for the Westerlands. I've been working on digitalizing the alphashape of the continent. There seems to be something wrong with it but i cant really put my finger on it. Maybe its because it looks so damn empty at the moment.
C&C very welcome!

For your latest map, I don't think anything's wrong with it per se; it may just be, like you say, that it's empty right now. The only idea I can offer is that the irregularities of the coastline may be too regular, if you see what I mean. I happen to like it, though.

I wanted to add also that the idea of having human noble houses speak elvish or some other 'elder' language is a GREAT idea and one I don't think I've seen done before. It really makes sense when you think about it though; of course the new, 'younger' races are going to want to emulate to some degree the older races.

There you could find the zigzag-type at Greece and elsewhere at the Mediterranean Sea, but at the Atlantic coasts you also find the type of long, calm lines.

I'd suppose you could create some changes between those styles on your map which could help to make it look more naturally.

And, as Diamond said, the zigzag-type is too regular. Though I'm curious how the work goes on... although I don't see, why the dwarves need to speak a German-like language. (we are no vikings, at best some German tribes with a piece of romanisation)

I agree with Eld - it seems too uniform. I'd randomize/add more islands to the part in the lower right (which I quite like) and maybe add some small islands here & there. also the undulations in the coast (what i think others might be refering to as zig-zag) are too uniform. For instance, look at the bay of biscay on a european map - its relatively featureless and almost unrealistically straight. contrast that with the islands of the aegean or the western adriatic. different areas, even quite close to one another tend to be radically different.

So just try to break up the uniformity of the coast a bit - some straighter areas, peninsulas, archipelagos, isthmuses and other features.